Comfort
by Kalira69
Summary: Sho has always wanted to soothe Kei's nightmares. (Featuring wee!Sho. Fluffy.)
1. Chapter 1

Both parts of this story were originally written (separately) for prompts from a challenge set.

* * *

Sho flinched, setting aside his glass of water, and turned, making his way through the tiny apartment - the most luxurious place he had ever lived, even if all four of them were crammed into the tight quarters.

Kei was whimpering softly on the small couch he took as his bed, while Shinji, Toshi, and Sho each had a futon in the bedroom they shared.

It was a familiar sound, sadly, though Sho did not think that either of the others had ever seen the nightmares that tortured their protector in the quiet of the day.

Sho climbed up onto the couch and knelt by Kei's side. He no longer truly tried to wake his vampire - as he privately thought of Kei, with all the adoration of his heart - from the nightmares, but he knew how to soothe them without waking him, after a thousand days of watching the same torment take him.

Kei whined, softly crying a name he only ever said in his sleep, and Sho carefully tucked himself up along his vampire's side. Kei shuddered, but the warmth of Sho at his side calmed his trembling, if not the quiet cries of his fear and pain.

Sho pressed his face close to Kei's neck, nuzzling at the soft, cool skin. Kei shuddered, then went still, with a long sigh.

He tipped his head back, arching his neck, and Sho nuzzled even closer as a strong arm wrapped around his waist and held him almost too tight. It made him wriggle happily, clinging to his vampire, loving the possessive affection in the embrace.

Sho let himself be soothed to sleep, knowing that he would wake before Kei - and usually before either of the others, as well, though Shinji had occasionally emerged from their room in the morning before Sho had left his vampire's side.

Shinji did not like it, but Shinji did not like Kei, did not trust Kei, and no matter what Sho said, would never understand how he loved Kei. He had acknowledged, with bad grace, that Sho would not allow himself to be talked or bullied out of his affection, and Kei would not leave whatever Shinji said, not so long Sho wanted him to stay.

Toshi liked Kei, and he trusted Sho's faith in Kei - probably he would even if he knew what Kei was - and though he didn't understand Shinji's dislike, he stayed out of their arguments, as he usually did.

Though in different ways, both of the brothers were impossible to argue with when they had made a decision.

Sho woke in the late afternoon - despite Shinji's snide remarks about Kei, they had always spent more time awake in the evening and night, for the better pickings, if nothing else - at least an hour before Kei would begin to stir.

Kei's embrace was not as cool as it had been when Sho had joined him, the closeness of Sho's body warming Kei's blood. Not that Sho was ever less than content to be in Kei's arms like this, whether his vampire was a warm or cool presence beside him.

Lingering at his vampire's side for some time, Sho soaked in the affection and the comfort of his place before finally sighing and beginning to slide out of Kei's arms. He was already beginning to be a little too big to easily share Kei's couch this way, with the extra height that the last year had brought him.

Though Kei was still taller than he was, it was not by a very broad margin any more, and with Kei's care, he was no longer so very thin as he had been once. Sho wondered, sometimes, with a touch of apprehension, when he would grow too tall to do this.

Sho leaned down and kissed the softness of Kei's throat, the place that soothed him the most, and then went reluctantly back to his own bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Sho tapped his fingers almost restlessly against one thigh as he walked through the apartment, his gaze coming again and again to Kei's troubled movements.

Much as he tried to put his concern out of his mind, he could not quite manage such a feat. Kei might prefer to ignore the nightmares that plagued him - left him shaking and unsteady and sometimes crying, though even when he did, it was never much - but Sho did not have that luxury.

He sighed and turned towards the couch as Kei whimpered and murmured something, a word, perhaps, that Sho could not quite make out. He paused as he was about to try and wake Kei, however, a fleeting memory from years past surfacing in his mind.

Sho tilted his head, looking past his hand at . . . at his vampire, sleeping so restively, with no comfort for the terror that plagued him in his sleep - no comfort only because he would not accept any.

Sho gingerly put one knee on the couch, pushing his unbound braids over his shoulder, and leaned closer cautiously.

Kei hardly responded to the slow, gentle shift of the couch beneath him, twitching and moaning with upset in his sleep. Sho frowned, reaching out delicately to brush Kei's shaggy fringe with his fingertips, a small part of him surprised that Kei didn't wake with the action.

Most of him was remembering a comfort both given and received, years before, when he had still looked straight across into Kei's eyes when they stood together. Even before then, when Kei had been adjusting to life with Sho and his little family, and they to him.

Sho leaned his elbow on the couch, shifting sideways, squashing himself down to sort of, roughly, fit on the couch beside Kei, having to fold his legs and curve his back and shoulders. He shifted, drawing himself in just a little more, noticing that Kei was no longer shaking, though the soft sounds of grief and pain still reached his ears.

Sho twisted, nuzzling Kei's neck and then kissing a vaguely-remembered place low on his throat, soft and warm on the cool skin.

Kei went very, very still, then sighed, slow and holding a quiet hint of a moan.

Sho closed his eyes, waiting, and Kei shifted sleepily, but not in distress this time, only to rearrange himself more comfortably. Sho took a moment to be deeply thankful that there was anything that could soothe Kei's nightmares, nuzzling his neck again, affectionate and comfortable.

In a moment, Kei shifted again, with a low hum and a lazy stretch, one slender, strong arm draping over Sho's waist and tugging at him.

Even asleep, Kei did not have a fraction of the difficulty he should have in moving Sho's much-larger form. Sho smothered a chuckle as he was brought close, still folded up a little uncomfortably to fit on the couch and to reach Kei's neck.

Kei hummed and cuddled against his warmth, and Sho wrapped an arm around his vampire in return, shifting in slight, subtle movements to try and get comfortable himself.

Sho finally wound up half-leaning against Kei's shoulder, one of his legs angled off the couch behind him, the other bent and tucked against Kei's. A fleeting thought played through his mind that this would be so much easier in his bed, rather than on the couch.

Sho yawned, settling easily, an absent smile curving his lips as he was held like he was needed, the familiar smell of his vampire around him - softly spicy with a bit of an odd tang to it.

Kei breathed out a word that Sho, half-asleep already, didn't quite catch, smiling just a little and unconsciously curving his body into the lanky one tucked so close.


End file.
